Kanye West’s newest LP confirmed

Think what you will about Kanye West. Personally, I’ve always appreciated his music, but his personality always got in the way of me finding him likable. So, I just tend not to focus on him outside of his righteous rhymes. Sure, the rapper has garnered himself some controversy. (Remember that whole Taylor Swift speech interruption? Way to steal a young girl’s spotlight, K-Dubs). But music blogs are going nuts today over the announcement that West’s upcoming record, titled Yeezus, is dropping on June 18 and is already available to preorder on iTunes.

West performed two new tracks from his forthcoming LP on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend, giving fans a taste of what’s to come. And Kim Kardashian posted a photo on Instragram, which has already been confirmed to be the cover art for the album. You know ... because they gotta keep it in the family (but only if it’s in front of the entire world). So, be on the lookout for what will no doubt be another interesting and thought-provoking record from one of hip-hop’s most notable figures.

Last night I was at a BBQ at a friend’s house when a new acquaintance said, “God, who watches ‘Saturday Night Live’ anymore?” Answer: people who do not go out on Saturday nights past 10:30 because that’s really late and there’s early morning gardening and muffin-making to do. Answer: me.

Anyway, Tina Fey was the host of SNL this weekend. She is, obviously, super. Her superness has become so well known that if you are a white lady aged 19-50 who wears glasses and has half a brain that you use to talk about dumb shit you hate, someone is gonna call you Tina Fey, even if you’ve had this schtick for years before she was on t.v. but whatever.

Some of the topics on ladyblogs (Jezebel and Feministe, not Rachael Ray’s Pasta Hole.com) are picking the episode apart, wondering: Good for Feminism? or Bad for Feminism?

Exhibit A: “Brownie Husband.” Reinforcing or making fun of stereotypes about single women in their thirties? My vote? The latter. Also, really hilarious.

Exhibit B: Fey calling Bombshell McGee a slut on Weekend Update. My vote? Not great for feminism. She goes after an admittedly slutty woman but leaves the uber-slut dude Jesse James alone, underscoring the old belief that men are going to cheat only if slutty women make them.

If you’ve ridden the red-hot highway that is the Internet (vroom) in the past few weeks, you’ve seen the army amassing its troops. It’s not the U.S. Army, or the French (snicker); it’s the movement to get “Saturday Night Live” to have Betty White host. The Facebook page that started it currently has over 450,000 fans.

Reports have it that SNL is considering this, but would have her appear as part of a “Women of Comedy” night, including, rumors say, maybe Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.

Aw, isn’t that nice of them? To give ladies a chance to be funny? You know, men aren’t half-bad. Forget that the two most recent stars to hit it big post-SNL are women (Amy and Tina, holla!) and that it’s most popular current performer is Kristen Wiig.

But I can deal with that. Comedy is a notoriously rough business for women, as evidenced by my male peers’ reception to my 2008 comedy tour entitled “Why Won’t You Have a Baby With Me, Boy Is Anyone Else’s Bra Killing Them?”. Their responses? Jokes about masturbating!

What DOES irk me is the ageism of it. So, maybe 88-year-old White, goddess of screens large and small, might not be able to carry a 90-minute show. But consider some of the people that SNL has determined are totally capable of hosting duties: Megan Fox, any athlete, Stevan Seagal, M.C. Hammer, Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins and Ron Nessen (press secretary for President Gerald Ford).

And what does Betty White have? Only six Emmys and generations of fans.

Instead of pairing her with younger women, how bout SNL gives older women their due? Here is my proposed cast for Old Broads of Comedy, in addition to White:

Teri Garr. 65. That’s not really old, except in Hollywood, which is a creepy place anyway. Uttered the timeless phrase “Roll, roll, roll in ze hay.” Pretty hilarious as an actual, real person.

I realize not all of these ladies might be able to run through skits and crap, but I’d wager an hour and a half of these four sitting around, talking shit and waxing sassy, would be better than 99.8% of SNL episodes. I think I just created a new show. I’ll call it “Platinum Ladies.”